Microsoft's iPod Touch Clone

Gizmodo: "The device is tighter and more physically beautiful than the iPod Touch and it's got a better UI, the main menu's scrolling so natural through the swipe gestures. There's a little note on the side, under the volume toggle-"Hello from Seattle." The power button is up top. The home button is nice and prominent, a bar rather than a round button on the Touch. It's smaller. And the accelerometer is more swift in responding to repositioning; images rotate very fast." - The Zune HD does look very nice, at least from the pictures. There are some interesting things to note. It's obvious the idea was to steal some thunder from Apple's iPod Touch/iPhone momentum. Apparently they support touch gestures. It doesn't appear to have applications, beyond what Microsoft will provide? They even did something Apple has always done. When you buy an Apple product you get the "Designed by Apple in California" slogan somewhere on the device. Now Microsoft has swiped that for the Zune HD by placing "Hello from Seattle" on the side of the device right under the volume control. It's interesting they'd choose to use Seattle. Last I checked Microsoft was located in Redmond, WA? I know, I know, Redmond isn't as cool as Seattle so it makes sense. Heck, Microsoft wouldn't even allow the Visio team to remain in downtown Seattle because it was "too far away" from the mother ship.

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I like the idea of the Zune HD, but don't know if they will ever be able to create enough of an interest to put a dent in the iPod Touch jargonaut. Too litte, too late? Maybe. I would never completely count Microsoft out. Like the rest of the world, I will just have to wait and see.

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Rob Fahrni has been a Software Engineer for 20 years. He's developed DOS, Windows, Linux, and Palm based applications in C, C++, and BASIC with a brief stint coding C#/ASP.Net applications and HMI applications...
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